This boy will be remembered as the youngest Swordsmaster and later on, an emperor.
Realizing his role again out of the blue, Kathia continued speaking.
“He’s practicing black magic in the Arcane Tower.”
“Hughes Glodis.”
Deon immediately stood up. Along with Hughes who couldn’t quite understand the situation, he was quickly heading outside before he stopped, turning around.
There was something about his expressionless face that sent chills down her spine.
“I’ll try to come back another time. It looks like there are many more stories to be heard.”
“…Yes.”
Trying not to quiver, Kathia gripped her dress tightly and nodded.
As he mentioned, there are many stories that Kathia can still tell, and, since he saved Hannah, there’s nothing that she can’t tell.
Acting as if he’s about to storm out of the living room, momentarily, Deon was hesitant.
She asked why I came here. I had my own reason, but I was reluctant to because I didn’t know how to bring it up.
I had a dream last night.
That Kathia was crying like a young child.
Instead of clear teardrops, from her large eyes fell flower petals and every precious jewel possible in this world.
All throughout the night, she cried and cried inside Deon’s black and white dream.
And as soon as the sun rose this morning, he came to her. Just because it felt like he had to.
But, he had no idea how to tell her about it when he got there.
Now, it’s getting really annoying. Why don’t I know what to do with anything regarding Kathia? Why do I keep paying attention to her?
Was it because of our unique first encounter? That could be possible.
Appearing suddenly in front of Deon, Kathia had the most desperate expression Deon has ever seen.
Truthfully, until then, he didn’t have much interest in her, but when she clung to him, saying that she would help him and to use her, that left quite a deep impression on him.
Somehow, he felt like she knew him very well. Not just on the inside, but even deep inside…
All in all, she was the only person Deon recognized by himself at first glance.
‘Because he heard rumors of her alluring beauty.’
And for some reason, Deon couldn’t speak of the reason out loud.
Why can’t I speak up about it? The more he thought about it, the more difficult the problem was to answer, it only left a foolish question behind.
Pretending not to know, Deon pushed the answer towards the back of his aching throat.
For now, he needs to hurry up and further inspect the information she gave him.
The Arcane Tower and black magic. If that was true, then it would be a very dangerous situation.
It wouldn’t be too late to deal with pondering over Kathia at another time.
“Until then.”
Deon glanced at Kathia’s eyes for the last time before leaving the living room.
Thinking that her dry eyes without tears reminded him quite a bit of last night’s dream.
* * *
“You have arrived.”
A middle-aged man with greying hair warmly welcomed the man and woman who were both wearing hoods.
Both the man and woman, who at a glance you could tell were both wearing fancy clothing, finally pulled down their hoods after the old wooden door closed shut.
It was the Second Consort, who looked unnaturally young for her age, and the pale-faced Second Prince.
“You can look forward to today. I picked up a very fresh and high-quality ingredient, a boy with extraordinary magical abilities, unbefitting of a slave!”
Associated with the Brezina Empire, the present Master of the Cigno Arcane Tower, Gillian, rubbed his palms together, laughing.
Then, the Second Prince, whose face already looked grim, plummeted further down into the sewers.
“Th-That, not today too…”
“Daniel.”
As the Second Consort called her son’s name as if she were warning him sternly, Daniel bit his lower lip tightly, without much resistance to that.
The Second Prince of the Brezina Empire, from a young age, had continuously transferred someone else’s magic power into his own body.
Forcefully transferring magic power. Because it required a sacrifice in return, it was listed as one of the forbidden forms of black magic.
During the process of transferring magical power, Daniel had to suffer through excruciating pain, as well as the constant fear of dying.
Words cannot explain that kind of pain, but to explain in the best way possible, it was like a hand coated in salt crystals lacerating and gouging one’s intestines.
But compared to the pain he felt physically, there was something else he could not stand. That was the guilt toward the sacrificial ‘ingredient’.
There’s no guarantee of safety for the one who receives magic, but it was a necessity for the counterpart to die while extracting the magic from them.
So then, with the Second Consort’s support, Gillian purchased expendable slaves from the black market.
They were mainly small children with no connection to their families.